Like many people in this forum we are looking for a motor for our TI. Our main need is to extend our range in river type waters ( where it can get rough-but not like the Ocean) and to get us home when the wind dies.

I wonder if anyone has experience with the side mount electric motor offered by Island Hopper which i heard about in this forum:

I am not very handy with tools, so I liked the idea that it can be mounted into the fishing pole holes without drilling a hole in the boat. I would also think that it would be an advantage to have access to both Mirage Drives as well as the motor at the same time.

It has to be great to have that extra mode of trans just in case.....only problems i have had with it is mounting

A decent and affordable trolling motor has 30lbs of thrust...this puts pressure on what ever is it mounted against.....from my readings i have come to the conclusion that any diy mounts or rigs should consider the effects of the pressure it puts on the hull. Especially if its somewhere not ment for any decent load.....im no expert but 30lbs has potential to do damage if it comes in contact with the right thing

My idea of the cupholder is out....maybe a Tom style mount except inserts in both rod holders but why when there are plenty of surfaces that can take much more load....why risk the hull

Ive come up with a mount that hooks on to the aka resting all the weight of forward thrust on the top rail on the yak....this mount could be midified to do forward and reverse but id rather have a simpler mount and in the rare reverse just use tiller for down ward force

....its a corkscrew looking thing....aka inserts with motor shaft parallel to ground then twist drive(looking out at ama counter clock wise) forward to lock also resting the opposite end on the kayak rail

You can't put much pressure on the hull with a trolling motor. The hull simply moves - it's not fastened in place. I think many people over look this fact when outfitting their kayaks. They're light and easily move in the water.

Put your boat on the water and try to damage it by shoving or pushing it. Grab it anywhere and try it. You're going to find that you have nothing to really push against - the boat moves too easily on the water.

Presumably one could build a haka with a motor mount on it.In fact one for each side then you could go water ski-ing as well!

Seriously though I have gone for the evolve. We all know hobie for the quality products although in my mind they key to all this is the battery technology.

Cc

I am glad that you like the Evolve--I certainly would prefer a Hobie product if there was one which met the need. My main concern about the Evolve is that you would need either to give up one of the Mirage drives or have to change from a Mirage drive to the motor out in the water--where it is sometimes pretty rough where we are. A side mount or a rear mount behind the rudder sounds like a good way to have access to both the motor and both drives.

Please let me know how this works out for you and for other Evolve users.

Presumably one could build a haka with a motor mount on it.In fact one for each side then you could go water ski-ing as well!

Seriously though I have gone for the evolve. We all know hobie for the quality products although in my mind they key to all this is the battery technology.

Cc

I am glad that you like the Evolve--I certainly would prefer a Hobie product if there was one which met the need. My main concern about the Evolve is that you would need either to give up one of the Mirage drives or have to change from a Mirage drive to the motor out in the water--where it is sometimes pretty rough where we are. A side mount or a rear mount behind the rudder sounds like a good way to have access to both the motor and both drives.

Please let me know how this works out for you and for other Evolve users.

Thanks---

i use the evolve on the revo with a rudder mount and on the ti in the front mirage mount swapping the evolve for the mirage when you want to and keeping the other (tethered) on the tramps.

Control for the motor is in the rear so you can peddle and motor at the same time. Clearly with an Ai you have to swap over.

There are other torqueedo motors that mount just like outboards so you dont have to stick with the hobie version. some have the battery on the top so are one self contained unit.

You can't put much pressure on the hull with a trolling motor. The hull simply moves - it's not fastened in place. I think many people over look this fact when outfitting their kayaks. They're light and easily move in the water.

Put your boat on the water and try to damage it by shoving or pushing it. Grab it anywhere and try it. You're going to find that you have nothing to really push against - the boat moves too easily on the water.

That sounds right. My only concern ( and maybe deepblues) would be the possibility of groundings, crossing anchor-lines or nets.

I didn't notice a pop-up function on your rodholder-mount version. But a breakaway or pop-up joint could be added.

Not sure what you mean by "pop-up" function. But we may use different fishing techniques in that regard.

I guess you can run a boat or accessory aground on anything. Good operator attention is paramount. Although, and I don't mean to speak for everyone, but I suspect we've all hit something at some time or another. I was having trouble pulling my TI onto the trailer last month and then realized that I hadn't pulled the Mirage Drive.

You would never be able to put that much pressure on the rod holders. You have a flexible rod, a line which will part at some point, and a drag on the reel. Plus, the boat isn't anchored to a solid surface. We've already learned that in a kayak, due to it moving so easily on the water, we can use far lighter line than we used in larger boat types. The fish has little to pull against.

If something did give way, it wouldn't be the boat hull. It's not the weak link in the chain.

I'm referring to having a safety feature built into to your PVC motor mount. in case of collisions. It's the only thing it might still appear to need.

Those moulded-in rodholders can be breached, BTW. Take a look at them inside the hull sometime. It's the only reason we haven't used them to build more options back there - such as rear seating, backrests and such.

If you wanted some sort of slip or failsafe device, you could forego gluing the top pieces. Drill a hole in the side of the top T-fitting and then another one in the outside top 90-degree fitting. All fittings should be sized for an easy, slightly loose slip fit. Now run a threaded rod from the inside hole to the outside hole. On one end put a lock nut, on the other, a washer, a coil spring, another washer and then a wing nut.

By turning the wingnut you can adjust the tension on the pieces thus setting a pre-determined slip point whereby any collision between the motor and an object would cause the pieces to slip, thereby lessening the chance of any damage to the boat.

I just cobbled one together and it appears it would work just fine. I'd have to take it on the water and purposely run into a few things to make sure, but from what I can tell in the shop, it appears to do what you're after.